The field of this disclosure relates generally to photovoltaic (PV) systems and, more specifically, to texturing PV module ribbons for PV module production.
Photovoltaic (PV) modules are devices which convert solar energy into electricity. Typically, a PV module includes several PV cells—connected in series and/or in parallel—that generate electricity in response to sunlight (or artificial light) incident on the surface of the cells by the photovoltaic effect.
In extracting the generated electricity, electrodes are manufactured on one or both faces of a semiconducting material (e.g., a crystalline silicon wafer) that at least partially forms the light-absorbing structure of the PV cell. Various techniques are known for manufacturing PV cell electrodes. In one such technique, electrodes include fingers and bus bars, and are screen printed onto a surface of the semiconducting material using silver (Ag) paste. Some other techniques include screen printing fingers from silver and soldering separate bus bars to the fingers. In yet other techniques, fingers are screen printed on the semiconducting material using silver.
During PV module production, PV cells are connected to each other by soldering conductive ribbons to the PV cell electrodes. The conductive ribbons electrically couple together the cells within a PV module and are sometimes referred to as tabbing, interconnect, or bus wire. An example conductive ribbon includes a copper (Cu) core coated with a tin-lead alloy (60Sn/40Pb) solder metal. These ribbons are soldered to the electrodes (e.g., the bus bars) on the front and back faces of the PV cells. The ribbons cover part of the surface of the cells and block some light from reaching the cell. The fraction of surface area of the cell that is covered up by these ribbons is a measure of the amount of useful light blocked from reaching the photoactive areas of the PV cell. In some cases, these ribbons reduce light incident on the photoactive areas of the PV cell by up to five percent.
Some known PV modules are produced using ribbons manufactured with textured copper or plastic films that are coated with faceted reflective surfaces. In some cases, these solutions increase cost, increase manufacturing complexity, and/or increase reliability problems of the PV module. It would be beneficial to reduce the amount of useful light blocked by PV module ribbons without substantially increasing the cost, complexity, or reliability of the PV module. This Background section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.